Veteran B’nai Brith Canada chief Frank Dimant to retire

TORONTO (JTA) — Frank Dimant, the longtime head of B’nai Brith Canada who is well known in the country’s Jewish community, is stepping down.

Dimant, 68, will retire as CEO of the organization on Dec. 31 after 36 years as its leader, B’nai Brith announced in its newspaper, the Jewish Tribune.

“Canada’s longest-serving and highest profile Canadian Jewish professional, he was seen as representing not only B’nai Brith Canada but the grass roots Jewish community,” according to the announcement.

His “greatest legacy” may be his fight against anti-Semitism, the announcement said. It was B’nai Brith, the group said, that inaugurated an annual audit of anti-Semitic incidents in Canada and an anti-hate hotline.

Dimant has worked with Ottawa to establish Canada’s Holocaust Remembrance Task Force. He also was “a leading force” in creating a seniors housing network, the announcement said, and recently helped establish Canada’s first residence for those with Alzheimer’s disease.

B’nai Brith Canada, which will mark its 140th anniversary next year, is “a fulfillment of a Jewish mission to defend the community, advocate for Israel, provide services for the elderly and those below the poverty line while attempting to introduce a responsible principled activist advocacy voice in Canada,” Dimant said in the statement.